Kiwis are homeless

The Kiwis are bereft of accommodation for the final week of the Tri-Nations rugby league contest or suitable flights home after the British tournament organisers had assumed they would not qualify for the final.

New Zealand is scheduled to fly home on Sunday, November 21, two days after its friendly international with France ? and six days before the Tri-Nations final in Leeds.

The British RFL has booked pre-final accommodation in Leeds for the Australians and secured a booking to the end of the tournament for its own side, but as Kiwi tour director Selwyn Bennett put it, "had assumed we would come in stone motherless last".

With New Zealand upsetting bookmakers and those hotel booking plans by being all but certain to make the final ? only a substantial loss to Great Britain in the last group match at Huddersfield on Saturday, followed by a British win over Australia the following weekend can stop it ? Bennett was struggling to find new flights and hotels for his team.

The Kiwis' preferred hotel in Leeds is already full and flights home are filling up as Christmas approaches.

"We have been offered the English team hotel if they don't make the final, but they are out in the countryside. They forget we don't have cars to get around in...they had just assumed we wouldn't be in the final."